Official: Albert Sanchez appointed Barcelona Atletic manager

Following the shock and sudden departure of Rafa Marquez, Barcelona have appointed his former assistant, Albert Sanchez, as the new manager of Barça Atletic, it has been officially confirmed.

The agreement with the 37-year-old tactician is for one season, the club announced in a statement that read:

“Albert Sánchez is the new coach of Barça Atlètic. The coach of Esplugues de Llobregat has reached an agreement with FC Barcelona to manage the Blaugrana subsidiary for one season, until June 30, 2025.”

Sanchez had served as Rafa Marquez’s assistant for Barcelona Atletic for the last two seasons and has now taken over as the manager following the former defender’s departure to take up a role with the Mexican national team.

Before the two seasons at Barça Atletic, Sanchez was the second coach of the Juvenil A team in the 2021/22 season, under Oscar Lopez.

The Catalan coach had some experience in international leagues before landing at Barcelona. He worked as an assistant coach at Beijing Sports University (2018/19) in China and as an assistant coach at Qadsia SC (2019/20) in Kuwait.

After that Sanchez also had a stint as the first coach of the under-20 team for Al Fateh in Saudi Arabia (2020/21). He will now hope to lead Barça Atletic to promotion after the team fell short at the final hurdle last season.